Christian Wims

1.2 billion people in the world live without adequate housing, according to a report by the World Resources Institute’s Ross Center for Sustainable Cities, but a company called ICON may have a cheaper solution for people who need homes at a low cost. The solution they have is to build these homes using 3-D printing. The 3-D printing method the company is using can create homes that are between 650-800 square feet and it is trying to get the cost to make these homes to around $4000. It only takes 12 to 24 hours to makes these homes and if everything goes according to plan then it will make a community of 100 homes in El Salvador next year. The company is also looking to the future potential of this technology to be used to build communities off-planet. The company thinks this can be a more promising habitat technology for space.

What are your thoughts on this technology? Do you think this could one day be used to build communities off-planet?

Technology is always evolving. Blockchain Technology is something created from the always evolving technology. Blockchain is an open, decentralized ledger that records transactions between two parties in a permanent way without needing third-party authentication. This technology is expected to dramatically reduce the cost of transactions. Many entrepreneurs are invested in blockchain and nearly 15% of financial institutions are using it. One example of a company that has its own blockchain technology is Ripple, which is based in San Francisco. Ripple has partnered with a few banks to use its blockchain technology. If a bank were to use Ripples blockchain technology along with its digital asset, which is called XRP, then it could settle payments in 4 seconds. This is a huge time difference because traditional systems will take between 3-5 days. This could lead to companies being able to process a lot more transactions daily. I personally see this as something many more companies will start to use eventually.

Do you think that more companies will use this technology in the future? Feel free to comment below.

When giving a presentation, there are certain things that should be avoided. These things are what I call the “Presentation Killers.” The “Presentation Killers” I would try to avoid the most when presenting are:

Reading from slides – The audience can read the slides on their own so explain the slides instead.

Not being knowledgeable of the subject matter – If you are presenting something, you should be knowledgeable of the subject. When you don’t have knowledge on the subject, it leads to the 1st killer (Reading from slides).

Not being prepared for questions – During a presentation, you are almost always going to be asked questions. If you seem unprepared for the questions, it can kill a good presentation.

Not making eye contact – Making eye contact with the audience is very important during a presentation because if you are not making eye contact then you are most likely looking somewhere that you shouldn’t be. This can make it look like you are uncomfortable presenting.

These are the things that I try to avoid most when presenting. Most of them can be avoided simply by preparing ahead of time for the presentation and studying the subject matter.

Are there any “Presentation Killers” that I did not include that should be included? Or do you have any thoughts on the ones I included above? Feel free to comment.